


Still Stuck on You

by advictorem



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Amputation, F/F, Femslash, Hurt/Comfort, Scars, Young Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 04:29:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20129377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/advictorem/pseuds/advictorem
Summary: Can be an additional piece to "Stuck on You." Thalia/Bianca, thalianca.Thalia's still stuck on Bianca, and it's clear to everyone...except Bianca, that is.





	Still Stuck on You

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this forever ago. I posted it to my tumblr, but never on here. Until now, that is.
> 
> Written in an alternate universe where Bianca survived the Junkyard of the Gods, losing her arm in the process.

This lieutenant thing wasn’t so hard. All she had to do was instruct the poorest archers, handle the minor disciplines (which was beyond fun for her), and try not to let Bianca catch her staring. The last part of her job? Extremely difficult.

“What are you looking at?”

See.

“Uh. Phoebe,” Thalia realized, turning to face the smirking huntress. “I was just critiquing Bianca’s…”

“Her butt?”

“Her bowmanship,” Thalia asserted, scowling but blushing a fierce red. “Phoebe, listen, you need to go help Ava with her—”

"Ava seems to be doing just fine,” Phoebe countered, smiling wryly. “Why don’t you help Bianca instead of just drooling over her?”

Thalia should’ve expected this kind of behavior from her. Even though Phoebe was about a hundred years old, she was still a daughter of Apollo.

Thalia checked her mouth as subtly as she could.

“Not drooling.” She buried her hands into her pockets, feeling her bow shift on her back as she did it. "And she won’t let me help. She just gets frustrated when I try.“

Phoebe hummed. “Well if you didn’t stare at her like she sprouted another head—or arm—she wouldn’t be so hostile towards you.”

"I don’t stare at her because of the arm,” Thalia said tensely.

“I know that, and you know that,” Phoebe drawled like she was in some Hallmark movie. “But she doesn’t know that.”

Thalia wasn’t a coward, by any means. But at the moment, as she stared as Bianca somehow gracefully nocked an arrow, she wasn’t feeling very gutsy either. During the quest to rescue Artemis, they had talked, bonded, flirted, kissed. Okay, so it was totally an elementary kiss but Thalia wasn’t about to complain. It was totally sweet and heart melting; it had Bianca written all over it. But they hadn’t actually talked about it since then. Since Bianca had been lost in Hephaestus’ junkyard. Since they all thought she had died.

Somehow, Thalia found it in her to walk over.

“Ow!”

Taking a metal elbow to the face wasn’t exactly Thalia’s idea of fun.

“Oh!” Bianca exclaimed, turning around and lowering her bow. “It’s you. With a bloody nose.”

“No, what? I’m fine,” Thalia insisted, self-consciously clutching her nose and rising back to her feet.

Thalia chose to ignore the hunters who snickered at her dramatic fall, telling herself that she could punish them later. She wasn’t sure what she preferred—hunt probation or making them all clean up after the wolves. She absentmindedly inclined her head. Both? Both would suit them just fine, Thalia decided.

Bianca fought off her concerned expression and squared her shoulders, turning back to the target and aiming her bow.

“Did you come over here to gawk?” she asked quietly but firmly. “Because if so, it’ll probably just save us both time if I answer your questions now. Yes, it works like any other arm. No, I cannot feel with it. And, no, I am not an eliminator, whatever that is.”

“Terminator,” Thalia corrected mindlessly. “Ava was really out of line when she said that.”

Bianca huffed. “I’m old. I didn’t understand it anyway.”

“Listen, Bianca…”

“Look, I get it, alright?” Bianca snapped, turning back around.

Her usually kind, raw umber eyes were full of so much anger that Thalia nearly fell down again.

“Get what?”

“I’m a freak now. Can you just get over it and stop staring at me all the time? At least the others have the decency to look away.”

“I don’t—”

“And I know that you’re over me and all that,” Bianca bit out. “I’m not stupid.”

“Over you?”

“Oh, save it,” Bianca scoffed. Then, quieter, “Just leave me alone, okay? I don’t want to talk about it.”

Thalia officially didn’t understand angry daughters of Hades. But she tried to.

She was used to understanding children of Zeus. They were direct, they were opinionated, and they weren’t afraid to back their opinions with their fists. Bianca? Well, she was not any of those things. She was soft-spoken and passive, and backed any of her remarks with emotion-driven logic. Even though she seemed to get an absolute thrill from kicking Thalia’s ass, she was never outwardly violent.

Thalia had fallen for her after a handful of days and a pinch of weeks, and she had yet to fall out of love. She doubted that she ever would. Bianca, on the other hand, seemed to want nothing to do with her. So, Thalia decided reluctantly to give Bianca the space she asked for. Rather, she tried to give her space. But it was an extremely hard thing to do whenever Artemis paired them up for an activity. An all week activity at that.

Thalia decided to walk up to Artemis the next day, to ask her to pair her with Phoebe or something, when she caught Bianca talking to her.

She didn’t think about the fact that Artemis was an all-knowing goddess, and she ducked behind the closest tent to listen in.

“I would rather work on my own,” Bianca asserted quietly. “I hope that is alright by you, My Lady.”

It wasn’t alright by Artemis; Thalia could tell. She didn’t know why. Plenty of girls worked on their own during these activities.

“We are trying a new exercise today, Bianca,” Artemis said firmly, her silver eyes curious. “Everyone will be working with a partner today. You’re lucky you received the best for this one.”

Thalia smirked to herself, feeling pride bubble out of her eye sockets.

“Oh,” Bianca remarked softly. If Thalia didn’t know her better, she would assume Bianca was about to be innocent and pleasant. “You decided to pair me up with Phoebe?”

Thalia scowled.

She was the best!

Her!

Artemis smiled. “No, I am afraid. You will be working with Thalia for the next week, and I can make no exceptions.”

Thalia smirked again. She was thankful for Artemis; Thalia had missed smirking for the duration of her scowling.

“I understand, My Lady,” Bianca said, restraining her sigh. “Thank you for your time.”

“A pleasure,” Artemis responded warmly. “Go collect your things, Bianca. Everything you think you will need for a week.”

Shit.

Thalia scrambled into the tent just as Bianca walked around the front of it.

She exhaled slowly, relieved that she hadn’t been caught.

“What are you doing in here?”

It was Bianca’s tent. Why, why, oh, why hadn’t she noticed that?

“I…uh…”

_Lie, lie. Think of a lie._

“I was listening to you and Artemis.”

That wasn’t a lie!

Bianca scowled but remained quiet as she carefully stepped over to her cot.

“What are you bringing?”

Thalia barely heard the murmur.

“Excuse me?”

Bianca glanced up as she zipped open an empty duffle. “What are you bringing?” she repeated.

“Bare necessities,” Thalia said simply, thrown. “Matches, rope, weapons.”

Why wasn’t Bianca angry at her?

“I’ll bring mostly extras,” Bianca decided, almost like she was speaking to herself. “Food provisions?”

“We’re supposed to find those on our own,” Thalia stated, finding the courage (the courage she so had since forever) to walk over. “I’m not supposed to tell you this, but pack very light. There are a few…obstacles that we’ll need to be able to outrun.”

“Obstacles?” Bianca stopped packing. “Monsters, you mean.”

Thalia laughed awkwardly, looking away. “Obstacles.”

“Have you done this before?”

“No.”

“First time thing?”

Thalia nodded.

Bianca hummed. “When do we leave?”

“Whenever you’re ready, but it has to be some time tonight. We start in the morning.” 

* * *

They camped high, and Thalia wasn’t so excited about that. But she pushed back her fear as best as she could, more afraid that Bianca would think less of her than she was of heights.

They found a cave to camp in, and it was about thirty or forty feet above the ground. It was shallow, so they weren’t afraid of bothering any creatures.

The more experienced girls stuck to the trees, but the newbies were scattered around on the forest floor.

It was cold.

“I thought you packed the necessities.”

Thalia didn’t even try not to roll her eyes. “I did.”

Bianca snorted. “And I guess, in your book, warmth is not a survival priority.”

“We have each other.”

Bianca stared at her. It had been forever since Thalia had made her blush, and Thalia couldn’t help the fond laugh that resulted from it.

“The arm is cold,” Bianca said, fidgeting. For the first time, she didn’t sound so angry when she mentioned it. “It’s metal. It’ll only make you colder.”

Thalia grinned. “Who says you would be the big spoon?”

Bianca didn’t stop blushing but she managed to glare. And, just like that, she was back to being upset.

“We’ll get close, but we aren’t cuddling,” Bianca decided.

Thalia hummed quietly. “I’ll take what I can get.”

Bianca made a small noise. Thalia wasn’t sure if it was out of flattery or distress.

“Why do you keep doing this?”

“Doing what?” Thalia asked casually, leaning back on her elbows.

“Trying to talk to me like you used to,” Bianca said, waving her hand frantically. “Back when you liked me.”

Thalia frowned. “I still like you.”

“I wish you would stop saying that.”

“Why?”

“You don’t like me,” Bianca insisted angrily. “Do you not see this hideous hunk of metal?”

Thalia pointedly glared down at her. “No, I don’t.”

Bianca buried her head in her hands.

“I think it’s cool,” Thalia blurted unthinkingly.

The daughter of Hades looked up sharply. “Cool? I already said it was cold.”

“We’ve talked about this. Modern definition of cool, B.”

“Oh.” A pause. “In any case, I already told you. It doesn’t have _wicked cool_ features. I can’t fry toast with my forearm. There’s nothing _cool_ about this.”

“I don’t know. How you earned it was pretty cool,” Thalia argued.

“Earned it?” Bianca repeated heatedly. “Like it’s some kind of promotion?”

Thalia sighed. “Just forget I said anything.”

“No.”

“No?” Thalia echoed, left eyebrow almost reaching her hairline.

Bianca huffed, ditching most of her anger in the final frustrated gesture. “At least you don’t ask questions about it.”

Thalia inhaled, watching Bianca out of the corner of her eyes. “I never meant to offend you.”

“I know.”

_Just drop the conversation now_, Thalia told herself.

After a small bit of thinking, she changed her mind. She wasn’t about to let this drop. Bianca would never be close to her again if she didn’t. Besides, she would much rather be spending time with her, not tripping over her own feet to avoid her.

“It was brave.”

“It was stupid,” Bianca shot back immediately. “It was stupid of me to take the figurine.”

Thalia shrugged. “Maybe. I’d have done the same thing, so I guess we’re both pretty stupid. But you owned up to your mistake, and you took down a giant automaton on your own. I don’t think I’d have done that.”

“You have sacrificed yourself,” Bianca commented. “I’m sure you would’ve sacrificed yourself then, too.”

“That was different,” Thalia said. “Somehow.”

“You aren’t usually this modest,” Bianca noted with a small ounce of humor.

“You bring it out in me, I guess.”

“Did you mean it?”

“Mean what?” Thalia replied reluctantly, feeling herself start to drift off into space. She quickly cleared her head, forcing her eyes to focus on Bianca.

“That you still…like me? Even after…this?”

“Yeah,” Thalia said, concentrating as much as she could to keep her voice from cracking. “Stuck on you, remember?”

“I do.”

“I looked for you.”

“I know you did,” Bianca said, almost smiling.

Bianca sighed. “But there’s more damage that you haven’t seen. And, gods, it’s so hideous.”

“Show me.”

“I—I can’t.”

Thalia didn’t push her. Instead, she rolled up her pant leg. Bianca gasped at the sight of the nasty, healed gash.

“Skateboard accident,” Thalia explained. “I tried to show off to Jason when we were younger, and I built a ramp. It wasn’t a very good ramp. I lost control of the board and part of a fence got lodged into my calf. It was pretty gross.”

“You can skateboard?” It was all Bianca could ask, apparently.

“No,” Thalia answered, pulling the leg of her pants back down. “That was part of the problem.”

Bianca swallowed. “Mine are worse,” she insisted, pulling her knees up to her chest.

Thalia didn’t respond to that.

“When we were on the run, a hellhound scratched me up really badly. Wanna see?”

She flashed scar after gash after abrasion, hoping to make Bianca feel just a little bit comforted by the fact that she wasn’t the only person who had scars.

“Thalia,” Bianca cut in just as she was about to fling her shirt off. “This is the weirdest, sweetest thing you have probably ever done, but I’m pretty sure that I will implode if I see you half-naked.”

Thalia grinned sheepishly and offered an apology.

Bianca sighed and relented, pulling her heavy duty jacket off before edging her shirt up. She struggled with getting it off, and it took every stable nerve in Thalia’s body to prevent her from shaking.

Thalia eased forward on her knees, drifting her hands down to help Bianca pull it up her body.

“Stop. Right there.”

Obeying, Thalia glanced over the inches and inches of soft, olive skin. Her belly was just as cute as Thalia had anticipated.

“On my back,” Bianca said, blushing as she felt Thalia mindlessly reach out and trace the contours of her stomach.

Thalia braced herself as she slid her hands around, moving her body until she was directly behind Bianca, her legs spread out on either side of her body.

She stared at the burns, not finding them to be particularly ugly at all. In truth, she thought scars were super hot, but she would never admit that to Bianca.

“They’re just burns, Bianca.” Thalia didn’t know what to say.

When she heard a choked sob, she really didn’t know what to say.

“My lacrosse scars were worse than these,” Thalia muttered, not meaning to offend but also not liking the quiet cave at all. “I didn’t play lacrosse either.”

Bianca rubbed her face. “Thank you.”

For? She wanted to ask it, but she didn’t

Thalia cleared her throat and silently nodded, not trusting her voice enough.

She hadn’t known that Bianca had been so worried about her injuries. She wished she would’ve known earlier, so that Bianca wouldn’t have felt so hurt and vulnerable.

“Is it time?”

Thalia shook her head. “In order to get up at five, Artemis wants us to rest in an hour or so. Then we hunt the other teams.”

Bianca nodded quickly, spreading her jacket out underneath her and laying down. She used her lumpy duffle as a pillow.

Thalia followed suit, and she found that her bag wasn’t very comfortable at all. Fighting off discomfort, she unthinkingly snuggled into Bianca’s back and strung her long arm over her hip.

Bianca tensed.

“Warmth,” Thalia reminded, closing her eyes. “It’s for your own good.”

Bianca wasn’t saying anything, and she remained tense. Thalia worriedly lifted her head and opened her eyes, peering over at Bianca’s red face.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “I can just give you my jacket for a blanket if you want.”

Bianca pushed back against her until Thalia’s back was flat on the ground.

Thalia held back a sigh and wiggled out of her jacket, surrendering it over to Bianca. But Bianca didn’t grab it. She pressed her hand to Thalia’s chest and used it to push her down flat, and then she snuggled against her breasts, curled into her side.

Thalia sighed in relief, feeling her heart stutter beneath Bianca’s ear. She was somehow not shivering, despite their lack of a blanket. Her jacket was big enough to cover most of Bianca’s body, and Bianca was incredibly warm.

“Thalia,” Bianca whispered.

“Yeah?” she murmured back, running a hand through the strands of hair that were no longer tightly braided.

“Can we start back where we left off?”

Thalia’s lips twitched. “Exactly where was that?”

Bianca balled her hand in Thalia’s shirt, and she couldn’t help but think that Bianca had been telling the truth—the metal hand was pretty chilly, and it tickled her a little bit.

“Last thing I remember is a kiss.”


End file.
